Do
Wars profiles in scourge: Dick Cheney, sometimes lives
in the Vice President's house

Favorite
Secret: His own voting record.

A
life devoted to putting the interests of the country
as a whole second to his quest for money and power,
Dick Cheney yearns for the old days, rolling back environmental
protections and rolling out the weaponry:

1981:

Water
Pollution Voted against
reauthorization

1984:

EPA- Voted against EPA research
and development fundingHazardous Waste Voted
to eliminate right to sue over damages from dumping
hazardous wastes

1981:

Water
Pollution Voted against
reauthorization

1984:

EPA Voted against EPA research
and development fundingHazardous Waste Voted
to eliminate right to sue over damages from dumping
hazardous wastes

Terrorist Weapons Voted
against ban.Gun Purchases Waiting PeriodVoted
against 7 day wait to check for prior felonies.Family Leave Voted against
allowing federal employees to take time off for
sick family members. Power to Vote Failed
to vote in 14 of 16 local elections.

Favorite
Power Tie Defense SecretaryRules are made to be Broken: Cheney changed
the rules restricting private contractors' work at military
bases. As Robert Scheer writes, "This allowed Kellogg
Brown & Root subsidiary of his future employer,
Halliburton,
to receive the first of $2.5 billion in contracts over
the next decade."

Revolving
doors gather no moss but pay off in stock options:
During the 2000 election, Cheney took credit for his
"work" in the business world at Halliburton.
As CEO, Cheney oversaw $23.8 million in business contracts
to Iraq, getting around American sanctions by working
through two European subsidiaries: Dresser Rand and
Ingersoll-Dresser Pump.

When
Sam Donaldson questioned Cheney about dealings with
Iraq, he replied "No. No. I had a firm policy that
I wouldn't do anything in Iraq, even arrangements that
were supposedly legal." It was not the truth.

Favorite
back scratcher foreign dictatorsPolitical connections also helped Halliburton
gain big contracts in Asia. Far from being normal market
transactions, they frequently served the interests and
policies of brutal dictatorships in Burma (Myanmar),
Somalia, Indonesia, and elsewhere. Halliburton increased
its involvement in Nigeria's Niger Delta after the military
government executed ecology activists and crushed popular
protests. In Burma, Halliburton pipeline projects benefited
from the government's forced relocation of villages
and violence against those opposed.

During
his 5 years at Halliburton Cheney's political contacts
helped Halliburton's bottom line, bringing in $2.3 billion
in federal contracts, up from $1.2 billion the previous
five years. Shortly after Cheney left Halliburton, it
came under investigation for over charging the government
for work performed under his watch. The company settled
by paying $2 million. Then the SEC announced a probe
into shady accounting practices adopted under Cheney's
leadership, practices that inflated its profits. This
"creative" accounting was necessary because
even with the government contracts, Halliburton was
not doing well. He still receives money from Halliburton.

Halliburton
= asbestos
Halitosis Cheney's 1998 decision to acquire Dresser
brought with it enough asbestos liability to threaten
the company's existence. So Cheney, our Vice President,
now supports a new federal law limiting damages that
can be claimed against former asbestos manufacturers.
This law is being considered as we prepare this report,
constituting yet another example of corporate welfare
and crony capitalism masquerading as legitimate business.

Favorite
stock tip find a patsy As CEO, Cheney sold his Halliburton
stock just two months before its stock plummeted on
bad news. He made an $18.5 million profit. Martha Stewart
would have been very impressed - she is accused of making
$40,000. Of course, Cheney has not been charged, but,
as the Washington Post observed, either he did "not
know the magnitude of problems at the oilfield services
company he ran for five years, or he sold his shares
in August 2000 knowing the company was likely headed
for a fall." Incompetence or dishonesty? You choose.

He
also received a $36 million payoff for his final year
of "service' to the company.

Showing
true grit - standing up for your principles = covering
up for your friends
Cheney refuses to allow Congress or the public to know
who met with him while he drafted his energy policy.
Doing so, he claimed, would discourage frank and honest
advice from people in the future. This was a lie, because
the Bush administration released to Congressional investigators
thousands of documents from the Clinton White House,
including candid conversations between Clinton and former
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. The only secrets
worth keeping were their own.

The
GAO asked for information on the meetings, which Cheney
refused to divulge. Before it could get to a non-Bush
appointed judge, Republican Congressional leaders threatened
GAO's budget if they persisted. They backed down.

Cheney's
report concluded there was an "energy crisis."
California's blackouts were due to insufficient energy
production, not corporate manipulation. Environmentalists,
not Enron,
were to blame. Cheney also belittled conservation. But
there was no energy crisis and conservation and improved
technology were the reasons why, as Forbes wrote at
the time.

Maybe
the reason Cheney wants his energy meetings kept secret
is that exposure would demonstrate the same level of
incompetence he showed while managing Halliburton.

Secret
agent man
Cheney has sought to expand secrecy in every dimension
of government. He argued vehemently against Congress
exploring the events leading up to 9/11, once even suggesting
that doing so would be unpatriotic. We now know there
were good reasons the administration did not want a
good public airing of pre-9/11 events. Conservative
columnist Phyllis Schlafly declared correctly that:
"The American people do not and should not tolerate
government by secrecy." She elaborated that no
one's "going to buy the sanctimonious argument
that the Bush Administration has some sort of duty to
protect the power of the presidency." Unfortunately
she was wrong with respect to much that passes for journalism
today.

No-clear
nuclear
Cheney has also been a major dissembler and liar regarding
the reasons for war with his old customer, Iraq. In
Meet the Press, (3/16/03) Cheney informed us that Saddam
"has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons."
Strangely, in the same interview he also said "it's
only a matter of time until he acquires nuclear weapons."
Both statements were false - and they contradicted one
another. We give credit where credit is due: this is
hard to do in a single session.

It
now appears that Cheney's office was well aware that
Iraq's supposed efforts to get uranium from Africa were
not supported by the facts. That his company Halliburton
would make money dealing with Hussein, and then make
even more money after Hussein was deposed, and do so
with the active cooperation and dishonesty of Dick Cheney,
should go down as one of the more disgusting episodes
in recent American history.

Do
Wars salutes...
Dick Cheney for his ability to work behind the scenes,
pulling the strings, while maintaining his principles
on secrecy, helping corporate friends, and misleading
the American people. Think of how much our children
can learn about true American values from this principled
man about town.